DREDGING WORK IN THE GANGA RIVER

DREDGING WORK IN THE GANGA RIVER

The objective of dredging work is to maintain navigable depth of 3 meters in the navigation channel of 45 meters width for smooth movement of Cargo vessels  in River Ganga, which has been declared as National Waterway -1  (Ganga – Bhagirathi-Hooghly River System).  Out of the declared stretch of 1620 Kms, approximately 56 Kms from Kahalgaon to Sultanganj comes under Bhagalpur District. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways has been deploying its departmental dredger in this stretch for undertaking dredging, wherever Least Available Depth (LAD) is less than 3 meters.

Dredging work is undertaken on a need basis to ensure smooth navigation enabling movement of vessels. Inland Water Transport is environment-friendly, economic and fuel-efficient in comparison to Rail and Road leading to overall economic benefit of the country.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.